mike capps – VG247http://www.vg247.com
VG247.comFri, 09 Dec 2016 16:15:23 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.5.3Former Epic boss feels VR will be a hard sell to mainstream consumershttp://www.vg247.com/2015/03/21/virtual-reality-epic-mike-capps/
http://www.vg247.com/2015/03/21/virtual-reality-epic-mike-capps/#respondSat, 21 Mar 2015 19:02:15 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=518882Former Epic president Mike Capps isn’t completely sold on Virtual Reality as he feels consumers have little tolerance for expensive investments or being forced to wear things on their faces, more or less.

Speaking with GI.biz, Capps is of the opinion one of the main reasons 3D didn’t take off was due to potential customers being turned off to the fact they would need to wear 3D glasses.

A VR headset is as far from a pair of glasses as you can get, and when the price point is combined with needed a high-end PC, many consumers just won’t bother.

“There’s so little tolerance at the consumer level for that kind of an investment,” he said. “I think one of the things I’m most curious about – you look at 3DTV as a super easy to use technology that is really unfettered. Just a pair of polarized glasses and people didn’t use it because it wasn’t worth the trouble.

“The content difference was there. 3D Avatar looks way better than non-3D Avatar… If slipping on a pair of flicker glasses, is too much trouble – then the idea of, ‘Ok I’m going to put on my head mount rig and fire up my liquid cooled PC in order to make it happen’ isn’t likely to take off.”

Capps added he hopes “it happens” but thinks it will be quiet a while before consumers make the leap. Compounded with the possibility of any word of motion sickness or other issues with the tech, and VR could end up dead in the water.

“Any reports of nausea and vomiting and it’s game over in a hurry, as Carmack said in his talk, ‘We ship a bunch of these Gear VRs and have an 80% return rate and everyone’s throwing up and then that’s the end. It’s done. No one’s going to buy it next round.’

“So please, gosh, guys, don’t screw it up. Take all the time you need,” Capps said.

Augmented reality such as HoloLens or CastAR would likely be an easier sell, said Capps, as the world around you isn’t closed off with a headset.

“Just the fact that I could be using [AR] in the room with my kids, I could be keeping an eye on them while I’m playing, like I do when I’m on an Xbox, like I do when I’m on my iPhone,” he said.

“If I slap a headset on, I’m no longer dad. So there’s a huge number of use cases where people cannot afford to shut out the world even though it’s a wonderful way to maximize your entertainment experience.”

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2015/03/21/virtual-reality-epic-mike-capps/feed/0Former Epic president Mike Capps joins Remedy board of directorshttp://www.vg247.com/2013/09/11/former-epic-president-mike-capps-joins-remedy-board-of-directors/
http://www.vg247.com/2013/09/11/former-epic-president-mike-capps-joins-remedy-board-of-directors/#respondWed, 11 Sep 2013 18:18:05 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=407202Former Epic president Mike Capps, who retired to an advisory role late last year only to step away from the the company earlier this year, has taken a position on Remedy’s board of directors. Remedy CEO Matias Myllyrinne told GI International that Capps has “a tremendous track record in the games industry, ” and has “proven himself over and over again.” Also appointed to the company’s board was F-Secure president and CEO Christian Fredrikson.
]]>http://www.vg247.com/2013/09/11/former-epic-president-mike-capps-joins-remedy-board-of-directors/feed/0Mike Capps steps down from Epic advisory rolehttp://www.vg247.com/2013/03/08/mike-capps-cuts-all-formal-ties-with-epic/
http://www.vg247.com/2013/03/08/mike-capps-cuts-all-formal-ties-with-epic/#commentsFri, 08 Mar 2013 04:38:00 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=347290Former Epic president Mike Capps, who retired to an advisory role late last year, has decided to step away from the the company altgoether.

“When we announced that I wanted to transition out of my leadership role at Epic, the plan was for a continued but less active role, service on the board of directors, and ideally, being that eccentric semi-retired guy who still comes to playtests and gold parties,” Capps wrote in a public post on his Facebook page.

“I’m sad to say that plans have changed, and as of February 11, I’m no longer affiliated with Epic Games. I thought it best for Epic’s staff to hear it first, and the announcement was made today, so now I’m sharing this more widely.”

Capps said he has “many wonderful memories” of his time with Epic, and wished all the best to his friends at the company.

The former executive said games are still important to him, and he will continue his work as a games advocate in Washington as well as serving on games industry boards and possibly taking on some academic roles.

“And mostly, I’m focused on being a new dad in a few short weeks. Time is flying by, and I’ve still got a dozen games I want to play before the UnSleep begins,” he added.

“As we’ve been mapping out the future for the new Epic Games, we decided it was best to get a fresh start with the new management. We thank Mike for his years of service at Epic and we wish him well in retirement and fatherhood.”

VG247 wishes Capps and his growing family all the best in their pursuits.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2013/03/08/mike-capps-cuts-all-formal-ties-with-epic/feed/4Video game researcher “cautiously optimistic” over Biden meetinghttp://www.vg247.com/2013/01/12/video-game-researcher-%e2%80%9ccautiously-optimistic%e2%80%9d-over-meeting-with-biden/
http://www.vg247.com/2013/01/12/video-game-researcher-%e2%80%9ccautiously-optimistic%e2%80%9d-over-meeting-with-biden/#commentsSat, 12 Jan 2013 17:32:16 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=329530Members of the video game industry met with US VP Joe Biden yesterday at the White House to discuss how or if violent video games contribute to gun violence in the US.

Yesterday’s two-hour session marked day three of meetings with various representatives on both sides of the violence issue.

“I come to this meeting with no judgment,” Biden stated at the start of the meeting, per The Associated Press. “You all know the judgments other people have made. We’re looking for help.”

Video game representatives present at the meeting alongside Biden, attorney general Eric Holder, and health and human services secretary Kathleen Sebelius were: the Entertainment Software Association’s president Michael Gallagher, EA CEO John Riccitiello, the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, ZeniMax CEO Robert Altman, ex-Epic Games president Mike Capps, and representatives from Activision and Take-Two.

Other participants in the meeting were Grand Theft Childhood co-author Cheryl Olson, Texas A&M researcher Christopher Ferguson a researcher from University Wisconsin at Madison, and a representative from the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop.

“We know that there’s no silver bullet, no seat belt you can put on to assure that we will not be in this circumstance again, but I ask the cabinet to come together, because we know this is a complex problem,” Biden continued. “We know there is no single answer and quite frankly we don’t even know whether some of the things people think impact, actually impact on it or not.”

After the meeting, Texas A&M’s Christopher Ferguson, said he was “cautiously optimistic” about the meeting’s outcome.

“Part of it was sort of a fact-finding thing for the VP,” he said, stating he felt Biden did his best to convey the meeting wasn’t “a witch hunt,” stating it was a smart move for the games industry to attend the meeting because shunning it would “have been a mistake.”

Ferguson’s research has shown that real-world violent behavior isn’t caused by violence in video games, and the industry doesn’t need to “necessarily change anything” it’s doing, but focus instead on “how it’s perceived by the public.”

“What the industry needs to do is take the vice president’s advice and really think about: what are some positive things that the industry can do? Public education campaigns about the ERSB rating systems, trying to avoid some blatant missteps like having a gun manufacturer as part of their website, that kind of stuff,” he said.

The White House has posted a video of the meeting, which is just over the 12-minute mark, and you can watch it on C-Span as well.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2013/01/12/video-game-researcher-%e2%80%9ccautiously-optimistic%e2%80%9d-over-meeting-with-biden/feed/14Epic Games president Mike Capps stepping downhttp://www.vg247.com/2012/12/04/epic-games-president-mike-capps-stepping-down/
http://www.vg247.com/2012/12/04/epic-games-president-mike-capps-stepping-down/#commentsTue, 04 Dec 2012 21:32:51 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=321135Mike Capps has announced his retirement as president of Epic Games in order to devote himself to his growing family.

In a cheerful post on the Epic Games community site, Capps said he’s fortunate at this point in his career to be able to take time off, as he has a baby on the way and wants to be “a stay at home dad for a while”.

“Other than cleaning up baby barf, I don’t have much planned. I might do some teaching, spend more time on creative writing, and maybe get more active with a few charities,” he said.

Capps has spent more than ten years at Epic Games, and has said that his devotion to the company, its games and his colleagues hasn’t swayed; he is “thrilled” to stay on the company’s board. While he’ll be around to offer advice and guidance to the developer, he also believes strongly in its existing talent.

“I’ve got great confidence in our executive team – VP of Development Paul Meegan is new to our Raleigh HQ, but we’ve worked with him for years, and I can only contemplate this retirement knowing that he and VP of Operations John Farnsworth can manage development better than I ever did,” Capps concluded.

All the best to Capps and his family.

Epic has number of titles on the boil including Fortnite, Infinity Blade: Dungeons and Gears of War: Judgment, which is due on Xbox 360 in March 2013.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2012/12/04/epic-games-president-mike-capps-stepping-down/feed/9Capps calls for “more efficient” development to sustain next-genhttp://www.vg247.com/2012/08/01/capps-calls-for-more-efficient-development-to-sustain-next-gen/
http://www.vg247.com/2012/08/01/capps-calls-for-more-efficient-development-to-sustain-next-gen/#commentsWed, 01 Aug 2012 22:40:51 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=281806Epic president Mike Capps has said the generational step of development costs means the industry can’t just throw more and more resources at games in order to “win”.

“You saw what happened when we went from the Unreal Engine 2 to 3 generation in terms of the complexity of making games and the budgets that came along with that,” Capps said in a feature interview with Game Informer.

“If we don’t want to have 500-person teams on Gears of War 7 or whatever it is, we have to find a way to increase efficiency because you know next generation is going to have cooler graphics, more power, and more memory, and we’re all going to want to compete to be the very best looking.

“We’re just not going to win unless we find a way to be more efficient.”

“First and foremost you need to have a viable business model for the next generation in order to thrive,” Epic tech guru Tim Sweeney agreed.

“If every project costs more to produce than it can realistically earn, then the industry will decline because companies will stop making those investments.”

The Unreal team has tackled this by making “philosophical” changes with Unreal Engine 4, which allow “designers and creative people to take charge of as much of the game production process as possible”. The engine draws boundaries between programmer’s tasks and designer’s tasks, meaning creative types can iterate quickly on new ideas rathert than having to wait for technical colleagues to bring their ideas to life.

The full feature is well worth a read if you’re interested in development at all, especially the second page; access it through the link above. Unreal Engine 4 was unveiled earlier this year.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2012/08/01/capps-calls-for-more-efficient-development-to-sustain-next-gen/feed/1Epic to hire majority of Big Huge Games teamhttp://www.vg247.com/2012/06/03/epic-purchases-big-huge-games/
http://www.vg247.com/2012/06/03/epic-purchases-big-huge-games/#commentsSun, 03 Jun 2012 22:53:37 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=264708Epic Games has reached out to the bulk of former Big Huge Games staffers in an attempt to rescue as much of the team as posible.

Epic president Mike Capps announced the company’s decision to employ as many of the developers as it can, saying the team’s continued co-operation in the face of mass lay-offs inspired Epic to reach out.

“On Wednesday, the ex-BHG leadership team contacted us. They wanted to start a new company and keep together some of the key talent displaced by the layoff, and hoped that they could use an Epic IP as a starting point for a new game. We loved that they all wanted to keep working together, but it was pretty clear they’d have trouble building a demo and securing funding before their personal savings ran out,” he said.

“In one of life’s coincidences, Epic’s directors had spent the morning discussing how we’d love to build even more successful projects with our growing team, but that we’d need a dramatic infusion of top talent to do so. Which, we all knew, was impossible. So now we’re planning to start an impossible studio in Baltimore.”

Capps said it will be some time before the new team kicks off work on its first project, since Epic must secure office space and equipment in Baltimore, Big Huge Games’ home territory. But as “some of these folks have been going too long without a paycheck”, in the meantime Epic will bring as many of the Big Huge games team as possible into its Cary headquarters to work as contractors.

“There’s a million things to work out. How many of the team can we hire? What will it be called? What will they be working on? We don’t know all the answers yet. Please give us some time to figure it out; we hope to have more to share soon,” Capps added.

Epic was typically modest about its contribution, pointing to other companies which have offered shelter to the “refugees” of 38 Studios’ closure, including Zynga and Zenimax.

“Epic’s in a situation where we can do this, and it very clearly fits with our company values, so we’re going to give it a whirl,” Capps said.

Big Huge Games was founded by Jason Coleman, David Inscore, Brian Reynolds and Tim Train in 2000. It was purchased by THQ in 2008, but offered for sale in 2009. Curt Schilling’s 38 Studios snapped up the developer along with its in-progress game, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, planned as a partner and portal to Copernicus, an MMORPG set in the same universe. The entire staff was laid off as part of 38 Studios’ financial meltdown.

Although its work with Ken Rolston, Todd McFarlane and R.A. Salvatore on Kingdoms of Amalur is the developer’s best known product, Big Huge Games also produced Rise of Nations and the Xbox Live Arcade version of Catan.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2012/06/03/epic-purchases-big-huge-games/feed/15People Can Fly tied with next Gears of War, confirms Epic bosshttp://www.vg247.com/2012/06/01/people-can-fly-tied-with-next-gears-of-war-confirms-epic-boss/
http://www.vg247.com/2012/06/01/people-can-fly-tied-with-next-gears-of-war-confirms-epic-boss/#commentsFri, 01 Jun 2012 12:26:19 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=264248Epic boss Mike Capps has confirmed People Can Fly is involved with the next Gears of War announced yesterday evening.

No more details were given on the announcement last night besides that it’ll Game Informer’s next cover and will form part of Microsoft’s press conference on Monday.

But People Can Fly has previously been tied to speculation it’s building a prequel trilogy in the series.

The last chapter in the original Gears saga, featuring Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad, launched last September.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2012/06/01/people-can-fly-tied-with-next-gears-of-war-confirms-epic-boss/feed/12Bulletstorm sequel plans shelved, People Can Fly on new projecthttp://www.vg247.com/2012/04/10/bulletstorm-sequel-plans-shelved-people-can-fly-on-new-project/
http://www.vg247.com/2012/04/10/bulletstorm-sequel-plans-shelved-people-can-fly-on-new-project/#commentsTue, 10 Apr 2012 01:11:00 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=249405Epic boss Mike Capps has confirmed that Bulletstorm is on hold after a disappointing sales performance.

Capps told Gamespot that Epic “thought a lot” about a sequel to the 2011 shooter.

“I’d love to go back. I think there’s more to do with Bulletstorm,” he said.

“Heck, it kind of ended wanting more. I’d love to see another project.”

The executive admitted some initial development work had been completed, but said sales didn’t match expectations.

“From a sales perspective it was good, but not amazing. I think EA was hoping we’d do better,” he said, adding that he felt the game did very well critically.

The PC version in particular did quite badly, with Capps shifting some of the blame off the highly criticised port.

“It didn’t do very well on PC and I think a lot of that was due to piracy. It wasn’t the best PC port ever, sure, but also piracy was a pretty big problem,” he claimed.

So much for Bulletstorm 2, then, but developer People Can Fly isn’t twiddling its thumbs.

“We found a project that we thought was a better fit for People Can Fly. We haven’t announced that yet, but we will be announcing it pretty soon,” Capps revealed.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2012/04/10/bulletstorm-sequel-plans-shelved-people-can-fly-on-new-project/feed/15Epic working on PC exclusive, Gears of War: Exile cancelledhttp://www.vg247.com/2012/04/10/epic-working-on-pc-exclusive-gears-of-war-exile-cancelled/
http://www.vg247.com/2012/04/10/epic-working-on-pc-exclusive-gears-of-war-exile-cancelled/#commentsTue, 10 Apr 2012 00:07:06 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=249382Epic’s rumoured Kinect title seems to have been shelved, but the Unreal Engine developer has something fancy in the works for the PC elite.

Speaking at a panel at PAX East 2012, as reported by GamesIndustry, Epic president Mike Capps and Gears of War designer Cliff Bleszinski both made mention of a “PC-only” game currently in the works.

No further details were given; Epic’s refusal to elucidate suggests the pair weren’t talking about Fortnite, which was announced during the 2011 Spike VGAs but is yet to be confirmed for any particular platforms.

Meanwhile, another enigmatic Epic title will apparently never see release. Gamespot asked Bleszinski about Gears of War: Exile, long rumoured to be a Kinect-based spin off to the popular shooter franchise, and while the designer couldn’t confirm the motion control whispers, he did shed a little light on the matter.

“Let’s just bury the hatchet now. Gears of War: Exile was an unannounced game that I can’t give any details about that has since been cancelled,” he said.

The first of the developer’s efforts is a lecture from founder Tim Sweeney, called Technology and Gaming in the Next 20 Years.

President Mike Capps will lead a panel called Staying Around, Playing Around with Blizzard’s Frank Pearce, and Insomniac Games founder and CEO Ted Price.

Epic expects to have a good time at the 15th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, too. In addition to Sweeney’s Hall of Fame induction, presented by vice president Mark Rein, Gears of War 3 and Infinity Blade II have scored three nominations between them. The awards after party is Epic-sponsored, too.

Sounds like a good show for our favourite birthday boys and girls. The DICE Summit kicks off on February 7 – with a poker tournament – and runs through February 10.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2012/02/03/epic-to-celebrate-20th-birthday-at-d-i-c-e-summit/feed/0Epic, Insomniac, and Blizzard hosting 2012 D.I.C.E. Summit session “Staying Around, Playing Around”http://www.vg247.com/2012/01/27/epic-insomniac-and-blizzard-hosting-2012-d-i-c-e-summit-session-staying-around-playing-around/
http://www.vg247.com/2012/01/27/epic-insomniac-and-blizzard-hosting-2012-d-i-c-e-summit-session-staying-around-playing-around/#respondFri, 27 Jan 2012 20:18:04 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=229569The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences has announced a new session for the 2012 D.I.C.E. Summit featuring Epic’s Mike Capps, Insomniac’s Ted Price, and Blizzard’s Frank Pearce. The panel, which takes place on February 9, is titled “Staying Around, Playing Around” and the speakers will discuss “what it takes to survive for 20+ years in the game industry while maintaining growth and original content.” The 2012 D.I.C.E. Summit runs February 8-10 at the Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas. Thanks, IndustryGamers.
]]>http://www.vg247.com/2012/01/27/epic-insomniac-and-blizzard-hosting-2012-d-i-c-e-summit-session-staying-around-playing-around/feed/0Epic doubtful about Vita, not keen on “port-itis”http://www.vg247.com/2011/12/07/epic-doubtful-about-vita-not-keen-on-port-itis/
http://www.vg247.com/2011/12/07/epic-doubtful-about-vita-not-keen-on-port-itis/#commentsWed, 07 Dec 2011 22:28:05 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=220654Gears of War developer Epic Games doesn’t feel the need to appear on every bit of hardware available.

“We’re not currently making a Vita game; I’m not sure how well it’s going to be accepted in our Western market which is primarily where our games sell,” Epic president Mike Capps told GamesIndustry.

“It’s a really cool platform, but I have a phone, and it’s really hard to compete with that. So I’m not sure if it will be successful or not, I hope they are, it’s good for the games industry.”

Although it won’t be making its own Vita game just yet, Epic has investigated the tech and worked support for the new handheld into the Unreal Engine.

“We were, I think, one of the very first people to get one and work with it and we were on stage at the launch, because we have a lot of licensees who are curious about it and so we did the first part,” Capps continued.

“But we can’t really fully support that platform unless we’re shipping our own games, that’s how we know we know that platform, and it’s really important for us to do that. And so with Vita we’re not planning on shipping a game and so that means we’re pretty honest with folks and say ‘you can have the Vita code we’ve got but this is not the same as us having shipped on Xbox or iPhone.’ It’s the same business decision I think that anybody makes, is this a platform for me?”

Epic has traditionally been quick to support new hardware with tech demos and engine support, and has been a visible presence in Vita marketing.

“But that’s very different from saying we’re going to do a launch title, which would be huge support, but costly in terms of poor install base on the platform,” Capps explained.

“The first year is always bad, it’s always hard, and so we just prefer to wait. And with Xbox we shipped a year after it came out and had a better install base.”

Epic doesn’t feel the need, in general, to have games on every possible platform.

“My god, if you make World Of Warcraft and you also have to have an Xbox version, you won’t ship World Of Warcraft,” the executive pointed out.

“And there’s a lot of great entertainment that’s a really good fit for the phone, but, Infinity Blade on the Xbox? Maybe it would be cool with Kinect, but I think it’s great where it is.

“And then you get port-itis, which really irritates the hell out of, well, you pick! PC gamers hate it, console gamers hate it.”

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz at Game Connection, Capps said the project came through the need to try something “different.”

“It’s something radically different for us. New IP, new game. We’re not really talking much about platform or anything like that, but I mentioned at GDCE Europe and my keynote there that we were working on a lot of new projects, and it’s been really refreshing to the team to try some new things,” he said.

“We love Gears, it was a great trilogy, we’ve gotten a lot of great compliments and a lot of great fans, and we’re still supporting Gears 3 very strongly, but I’ve got guys that have been on it since 2001, and some of them need a break and to try something new.

“So this is going to be one of those projects where we try something totally different, and it just went ‘boom’, because everyone had this pent up energy to do something new. And I can’t wait for them to get back to something like Gears in the future, because it’s sort of our bread and butter, and they’re going to be more energised for it to.”

Capps admitted it was also scared of the reaction it would get from fans of the company when the announcement drops in near 72 hours time.

“I’m so scared that people will just say “oh yeah, that looks like an Epic game, oh sure” because I want them to see it as a departure, but I don’t want anyone to say “that doesn’t look anything like an Epic game, forget it, I’m not interested.” So we’re actually nervous, we haven’t been nervous like this for a while!

“I’m nervous, this is something I pushed for a lot and I wrote some of the script for the trailer and if everyone hates it that’s it, I’m out of games for a while.”

The new IP, being made out of Epic’s North Carolina studio, will be announced by Cliff Bleszinski in Los Angeles this Saturday at the Spike VGAs.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2011/12/07/new-epic-ip-to-be-radically-different-than-anything-beforehand-says-capps/feed/5Epic: Consoles need to adapt to the way consumers “are willing to spend their money”http://www.vg247.com/2011/10/27/epic-consoles-need-to-adapt-to-the-way-consumers-are-willing-to-spend-their-money/
http://www.vg247.com/2011/10/27/epic-consoles-need-to-adapt-to-the-way-consumers-are-willing-to-spend-their-money/#commentsThu, 27 Oct 2011 17:52:35 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=212247Epic president Mike Capps believes console makers need to become comfortable with allowing micro-transactions and smaller virtual items for purchase, and in the future it could be detrimental to the next iteration of consoles if developers are prevented from setting virtual content prices.

Speaking in an interview with Develop, Capps said the way consumers are “willing to spend their money has changed,” and consoles will lose developers to PC if the hardware makers are not willing to adapt.

“Game revenue has moved to the service model and the microtransactions model,” he said. “Consoles need to start being comfortable with that. They need to be able to do something where small virtual items can be sold and bought for 20¢ without a long certification process and a price approval process.

“Right now we’re not even allowed to change the prices of virtual content. We’re not even allowed to set the prices. I just don’t think this protectionist approach is going to be successful in a world where the price of virtual items changes on a day-today basis.

“Double-A games will never come back unless we get rid of this notion of a game being $60 or not released. The console manufacturers need to let this happen. The best way of driving developers to PC is telling them they have no freedom in what prices they can set for virtual items.

“It would be great to have the level of freedom that, say, Steam gives you.”

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2011/10/27/epic-consoles-need-to-adapt-to-the-way-consumers-are-willing-to-spend-their-money/feed/6Epic wants Unreal Engine 4 to release close to next-gen launchhttp://www.vg247.com/2011/10/26/epic-wants-unreal-engine-4-to-release-closer-next-gen-launch-than-unreal-engine-3/
http://www.vg247.com/2011/10/26/epic-wants-unreal-engine-4-to-release-closer-next-gen-launch-than-unreal-engine-3/#commentsWed, 26 Oct 2011 16:51:37 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=211948Epic’s Mike Capps has said the firm’s next iteration of Unreal Engine will be released closer to next-gen consoles, than when Unreal 3 was released.

According to Capps, the firm also wants the next version of the tech to contain a “vertical solution” for both mobile and triple-A projects.

“In the past few years I think we’ve learned a lot about our technology and how it works for indie studios,” he told Develop in an interview. “How our tech works for iPhone games, for high-end triple-A studios and for a couple of guys who make a cool UDK game over the summer.

“We’re going to apply all these lessons we’ve learned with Unreal Engine 4, and I think you’re going to see a lot of difference with UE3 within the first six months from launch.”

Capps also thinks a year from a console’s launch is “perfectly fine for releasing a game,” but not when it comes to releasing new tech.

“We need to be there day one or very early,” he said. “That’s my primary focus.

“For us as a game-maker, we aren’t keen on shipping games day one because there’s not much of an install-base, or at least not one as big as it’s going to be. But with engines, that’s a different story. We want to deliver our tech as early as possible even though our first big marquee game might not be on there for twelve or even twenty-four months from a console’s launch.”

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2011/10/26/epic-wants-unreal-engine-4-to-release-closer-next-gen-launch-than-unreal-engine-3/feed/7Epic: No new Unreal game in developmenthttp://www.vg247.com/2011/09/21/epic-no-new-unreal-game-in-the-works/
http://www.vg247.com/2011/09/21/epic-no-new-unreal-game-in-the-works/#commentsWed, 21 Sep 2011 09:37:14 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=204147Epic may have made many a gamer’s dreams come true this week by delivering the latest instalment of its mammoth Gears of War franchise, but the developer isn’t handing out smiles to Unreal fans after confirming that there’s currently no new Unreal title in the works. Be brave, take a deep breath and read on.

In an interview with Forbes, Epic Games president Mike Capps said that the studio is not currently working on a new title in the Unreal franchise.

“Unreal and Unreal Tournament continue to have a huge influence on the studio here, even though we’re not currently working on an Unreal IP project,” he declared.

This will likely disappoint fans who may have had their hopes raised by Epic’s previous announcement that it’s currently working on five games and once again targeting PC as a “primary platform”.

The games are yet to be announced, though in talking about lessons learned Capps comments suggested one will come from Bulletstorm developer, People Can Fly.

“We learned that People Can Fly can make a really fun project, and we learned how to work together well – and that’s going to show in what they’re doing next.”

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2011/09/21/epic-no-new-unreal-game-in-the-works/feed/7Quick Quotes: Epic’s Capps on the challenges of remaining independenthttp://www.vg247.com/2011/09/20/quick-quotes-epics-capps-on-the-challenges-of-remaining-independent/
http://www.vg247.com/2011/09/20/quick-quotes-epics-capps-on-the-challenges-of-remaining-independent/#respondTue, 20 Sep 2011 18:42:28 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=203995“This is a hits-based business; if you’re at the top of the charts, you can be very successful, but if you’re in the middle of the charts, you’re likely to lose money. And the bets are getting bigger and bigger, so most independent studios can’t afford multiple “not hits” in a row. We’re lucky to have some stability from our engine technology business, and even luckier to have had great success in multiple platforms and genres.” – Epic president Mike Capps on the challenge of remaining independent to Forbes.
]]>http://www.vg247.com/2011/09/20/quick-quotes-epics-capps-on-the-challenges-of-remaining-independent/feed/0Epic: 3D on 360 has “room for improvement”, Gears 3 still looks swank thoughhttp://www.vg247.com/2011/09/08/epic-3d-on-360-has-room-for-improvement-gears-3-still-looks-swank-though/
http://www.vg247.com/2011/09/08/epic-3d-on-360-has-room-for-improvement-gears-3-still-looks-swank-though/#commentsThu, 08 Sep 2011 15:07:06 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=201340Epic president Mike Capps has said there is “room from improvement” when it comes to 3D, yet despite this, Gears of War 3 looks “really good,” when played on a 3D television.

Speaking with CVG, Capps said adding 3D to Gears 3 and getting it to work proper was one of the reasons support for the tech was revealed for the game long after its initial announcement.

“I think 3D was the very last thing we did,” he said. “We’ve been playing with it for a long time and it added a lot of complexity and testing time. We didn’t think we’d make it, which was part of the reason we made a late announcement. But we got it working and we think it looks pretty good.

“I think there’s room for improvement in what the console supports in terms of 3D, but for folks who are looking for a stereoscopic experience, I think it’s really good.”

Other games for Xbox 360 which support 3D sets include Black Ops, De Blob 2 and Crysis 2.

Gears 3 is out September 20.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2011/09/08/epic-3d-on-360-has-room-for-improvement-gears-3-still-looks-swank-though/feed/1Epic’s Capps: Gears of War 3 and the next generationhttp://www.vg247.com/2011/09/06/epics-capps-gears-of-war-3-and-the-next-generation/
http://www.vg247.com/2011/09/06/epics-capps-gears-of-war-3-and-the-next-generation/#commentsTue, 06 Sep 2011 06:06:18 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=200640Epic president Mike Capps is confident that Gears of War 3 is the biggest and best game in the trilogy. What’s next? We caught up with the exec to find out.

Gears of War 3

The final Gears of War episode – for now.

It’s a first-party Microsoft release, and as such it’s exclusive to Xbox 360.

Was delayed from April 2011 to September in October last year thanks to a “business decision”.

Takes place directly after the events of Gears of War 2, which released in 2009.

Out September 20.

Epic president Mike Capps has a reputation for being well-liked in the games industry thanks to his ready handshake and open smile. He’s also one of the best-connected men in development, heading up Unreal Engine 3 and Epic IPs such as seminal actioner Gear of War. It’s rare he’s caught out, but he wasn’t ready to be showing Gears 3 at gamescom last month.

“We’re quite surprised to be here,” he jokes. “We had no idea we’d be rated in Germany, so we didn’t plan to have any presence at the show. Microsoft’s done a great job setting up the booth. I don’t know where the signs came from; it was all set up in the last few weeks.”

“This is the biggest and best game we’ve done at Epic in 20 years,” he says.

“I’m really proud of it. It’s a much longer campaign than Gears of War 2. We had some extra time on the product that we weren’t planning for, so we got to put it through its paces and really polish it.”

“Honestly, Microsoft came to us and said, ‘We’ve got a better window for you to ship in.’ Normally, as a developer you’re saying, ‘Please, God, I need more time,’ but we were kind of ready,” he says.

“Gears of War 3 was on schedule, and when we got extra time, we took advantage of it. It was weird; we’d never had this before. Normally we barely make it to the end, but this time we just had more time than expected, and that made it bigger.

“That’s where Beast mode came from, for example, which is my very favourite way to play Gears right now. Taking the part of the monsters attacking the humans is a blast. Being a Ticker and blowing yourself up to kill their turrets is a lot of fun.”

Beyond Jacinto
Sat in a room on Microsoft’s gamescom stand, we see a demo taken from the game’s first act. The ending of Gears of War 2 featured the destruction of safe haven city Jacinto, the melting of a very large beastie, the drowning of many locust and the humans fleeing on helicopters and boats. Gears 3 starts on a flotilla of ships out on the ocean.

The Gears of War 3 campaign. It’s purdy.

The gameplay we see, however, is on dry land. We’re taken to Hanover, Cole’s original ball-playing town; the level’s called Homecoming. We’re shown female characters being played – this is the first time they’ve been included in a Gears game – and combat against Gears 3’s third force, the Lambent.

One of the main additions this time is fourway co-op. Capps is rightly proud that the feature, which was originally intended for the second game, made it to final release in the third.

“One of the big ones for us was just making sure the whole game could hold four people,” he says. “You need bigger combat spaces and you need more enemies, because if you play with four then everyone dies really quickly as you have more concentrated fire.

“When you’re playing alone you always have three people playing with you, and you don’t want the AI stealing all the kills because then you’re not having fun. It’s a very different balance for one human and three AI than two and two. It was a lot of work for us.”

The enemy count remains constant no matter how many non-AI players are involved in the game, but the difficulty scales. Less people, easier progress.

But while the co-op mechanics have undergone some fundamental changes, the tone is unmistakable. The cut scenes are Gears to the core. Cole and his squad, searching for food, speak to a distinctly uncivilised civilian behind a barricade who attempts to swap intimacy with the lady COG for some lunch. Cole refuses and the “hairy-assed heroes” are pushed on to more, potentially friendlier sources of meals.

Inevitably, the team enters an arena area before being attacked. The scene’s set in a playground, and Capps is quick to highlight the boosted level of detail over the second game, claiming there are “significantly higher polygon counts” and “greatly improved lighting” over 2009’s Gears 2.

That the extra time afforded to the game has created something technically exceptional is undeniable. It looks “next gen”. It’s still locked at 720p30, but there’s so much going on in terms of effects and shading it’s hard to believe it’s Unreal Engine 3 running on an Xbox 360. Capps grins when I point out the immediately obvious step-change over Gears 2: he’d specifically told the team not to expect any engine improvements for Gears 3 because Epic was shifting its focus to the next console round.

Microsoft came to us and said, ‘We’ve got a better window for you to ship in.’ Normally, as a developer you’re saying, ‘Please, God, I need more time,’ but we were kind of ready.”

“Then, of course, they came back and said, ‘We need this, and we want this, and this level doesn’t run.’ We ended up spending a lot of time on it, but it paid off.”

He says: “Who knows? Certainly, it’s the end of the trilogy. We’re really wrapping up all the loose ends of the storyline. It ends with the trilogy, and you can tell it’s ended.

“As for what else we’re doing, Epic takes a lot of pride in supporting the games after they’ve shipped, so you can imagine we’ve got some things in store. We haven’t announced any of that yet. It’s hard to say. Is this the very last thing? Well, not exactly.”

The next generation
The talk naturally switches to the next console generation. Given Capps’ involvement with ongoing editions of Unreal Engine, he’s bound to know something. Turns out he knows too much.

“The hard part about getting to work with the hardware manufacturers early is that then I can’t talk about it at all,” he says.

“‘What would you like to see?’ I can’t tell you, because I know what’s going on.”

Despite the silence, though, Capps is willing to concede that developers Epic’s engaging with on UE4, the company’s next generation engine, are pumped.

“We’ve only talked to a small number, but the ones we have are very excited because we’re doing a lot of core work that’s going to make it easier for them to scale up, especially with lots of processors,” he says.

“That’s what you see on PC; ten years ago you had one, maybe two, and now you have 16. I think we’re going in the right direction, and I expect to have a bigger marketshare, not a smaller marketshare.”

One last thing. In the demo, during the fight, Capps show us an Easter egg. In the playground, Cole climbs up on a children’s slide and squeals with glee as he descends. It’s Gears; it’s stupid; it’s glorious. You’ll be able to buy it on September 20, exclusively for Xbox 360.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2011/09/06/epics-capps-gears-of-war-3-and-the-next-generation/feed/10Epic wrote two endings for Carmine in case of another Gears of War 3 leakhttp://www.vg247.com/2011/08/23/epic-wrote-two-endings-for-carmine-in-case-of-another-gears-of-war-3-leak/
http://www.vg247.com/2011/08/23/epic-wrote-two-endings-for-carmine-in-case-of-another-gears-of-war-3-leak/#commentsTue, 23 Aug 2011 12:59:55 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=197811During gamescom, Epic president Mike Capps said the developer wrote two different endings for Clayton Camine into Gears of War 3 in case the fella’s fate was leaked earlier.

Capps said the firm opted both endings in so “no-one would be able to tell what happens,” and in order to find out, you’ll have to wait to play the game at release.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2011/08/23/epic-wrote-two-endings-for-carmine-in-case-of-another-gears-of-war-3-leak/feed/4Microsoft looking into German Gears of War releaseshttp://www.vg247.com/2011/08/17/microsoft-may-be-looking-into-german-gears-of-war-releases/
http://www.vg247.com/2011/08/17/microsoft-may-be-looking-into-german-gears-of-war-releases/#commentsWed, 17 Aug 2011 03:51:16 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=195497In the wake of Gears of War 3’s approval by German authorities, Microsoft is investigating the release of the first two games.

According to Joystiq, German Microsoft representatives at gamescom said the company is “looking into it”.

Additionally, Epic Games president Mike Capps, speaking at GDC, said he believed Microsoft is investigating possibility of releasing gears of War 1 and 2 in Germany, commenting that he’d love for that to happen in the heels of the third game’s unexpected approval.

“We were so surprised that Gears of War 3 was rated here that we really didn’t have an action plan [for gamescom],” Capps said.

“I’m very happy that the marketing team at Microsoft was able to put together a booth presence for us at gamescom with a couple weeks notice.”

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2011/08/17/microsoft-may-be-looking-into-german-gears-of-war-releases/feed/1Epic developing five new games, enthused about PC as a “primary platform”http://www.vg247.com/2011/08/16/epic-developing-five-new-games-enthused-about-pc-as-a-primary-platform/
http://www.vg247.com/2011/08/16/epic-developing-five-new-games-enthused-about-pc-as-a-primary-platform/#commentsTue, 16 Aug 2011 11:57:50 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=194744Put those speculation caps on, folks. Thanks to Epic’s Mike Capps, we now have a mystery on our hands. Five new games that aren’t Gears of War. What ever could they be?

Oh, and if you’re a PC gamer, we imagine you’ll enjoy this bit.

“It’s nice to target the PC as a primary platform again,” Capps said during a Gamescom presentation, “not just for ports.”

According to Eurogamer, the games are in “varying” stages of development. Beyond that, Capps was understandably tight-lipped. Some fuel for your speculative fires, though: For one, that gorgeous “Samaritan” tech demo from GDC is playable. Also, Epic’s fresh off an incredibly fruitful love affair with iOS. We doubt it’ll leave those extremely fertile soils undisturbed for long.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2011/08/16/epic-developing-five-new-games-enthused-about-pc-as-a-primary-platform/feed/16Quick Quotes: Epic on giving credit where credit is duehttp://www.vg247.com/2011/07/26/quick-quotes-epic-on-giving-credit-where-credit-is-due/
http://www.vg247.com/2011/07/26/quick-quotes-epic-on-giving-credit-where-credit-is-due/#commentsTue, 26 Jul 2011 20:16:40 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=189308“I think credit is really important, and it’s really fucking cheap – pardon my French. It doesn’t cost you a thing to have a guy in the credits who worked for you for three years and had to move to Seattle because his mom got sick six months before the product shipped. Or even just say, he worked hard on this game but didn’t finish it. What we do [at Epic] is if someone’s a programmer on a game but doesn’t stay until the end – the end’s the hard part – we’ll just call them ‘additional programming’ as opposed to programmer. But we absolutely still credit them, because it’s free to us and I want the guys here to know that if they ever left they would never be cut out of the credits. It’s just common courtesy, really.” – Epic president Mike Capps to IndustryGamers regarding LA Noire credits scandal.
]]>http://www.vg247.com/2011/07/26/quick-quotes-epic-on-giving-credit-where-credit-is-due/feed/2Epic affirms it is “very interested” in the Wii Uhttp://www.vg247.com/2011/07/26/epic-affirms-it-is-very-interested-in-the-wii-u/
http://www.vg247.com/2011/07/26/epic-affirms-it-is-very-interested-in-the-wii-u/#commentsTue, 26 Jul 2011 07:25:07 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=189072Another Epic Games giant has made positive rumblings about the Wii U. Go go gadget Unreal Engine!

“While we loved the Wii, it just wasn’t a fit to make a game that would go across Xbox 360, PS3 and the Wii. It just wasn’t possible. So going forward, we’re working with those folks and we’re very interested in the Wii U,” Mike Capps told IndustryGamers

Capps says the best way to support a platform is to make a game for it, but Epic hasn’t got one in the works. Until it ships a game for thw Wii U, it’s not ready to throw its weight as an engine developer behind the system.

“We officially support iPhone because we’ve made a game and we know it works. We know how to get through the certification process – we know it cold. That’s sort of important to me; as a game developer who’s selling an engine, I want to make sure that I can ship a game on it myself, which is why we have very clear public support of PS3, Xbox 360, PC and iPhone but not as clear when it comes to Android or Wii U.”

Epic can’t commit to any plans as yet but Capps did drop a few hints.

“At the launch event at E3, some of the products that you saw running on Wii U were based on Unreal Engine technology. So that kind of gives you an idea of where we are in that space,” he said.

“You can certainly use our engine on that platform – it’s a natural fit from a technology perspective. It opens up some doors that weren’t open before on current generation consoles because it is going to be a powerful box.”

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2011/07/26/epic-affirms-it-is-very-interested-in-the-wii-u/feed/1Quick Quotes: “We haven’t been giving [Unreal series] the attention it deserves,” says Cappshttp://www.vg247.com/2011/07/23/quick-quotes-we-havent-been-giving-unreal-series-the-attention-it-deserves-says-capps/
http://www.vg247.com/2011/07/23/quick-quotes-we-havent-been-giving-unreal-series-the-attention-it-deserves-says-capps/#commentsSat, 23 Jul 2011 19:08:18 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=188716“We have a couple other major franchises that we’ve not been paying attention to. It’s been a long time since we shipped an Unreal game, and it’s an awfully loved franchise that we hold pretty dear here. We haven’t been giving it the attention it deserves because we’ve been focusing on Gears of War and we’re still a relatively small company. We’ve been sort of focused on making new properties, which you’ve seen with Shadow Complex, BulletStorm and Infinity Blade, but sometimes I think just as a businessman that maybe we should be spending some more time with our existing franchises.” Epic President Mike Capps to IndustryGamers.
]]>http://www.vg247.com/2011/07/23/quick-quotes-we-havent-been-giving-unreal-series-the-attention-it-deserves-says-capps/feed/9Epic: Bulletstorm “didn’t make money,” for the firm, but it has no regretshttp://www.vg247.com/2011/07/23/epic-bulletstorm-didnt-make-money-for-the-firm-but-it-has-no-regrets/
http://www.vg247.com/2011/07/23/epic-bulletstorm-didnt-make-money-for-the-firm-but-it-has-no-regrets/#commentsSat, 23 Jul 2011 14:01:05 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=188691Mike Capps, president of Epic Games, has said People Can Fly’s Bulletstorm “didn’t make money” for the firm, but neither he nor the rest of the company have any regrets regarding the shooter.

Speaking with Kotaku, Capps said despite lackluster sales for the title: “The studio has shipped AAA content. The next thing we do with People Can Fly will be great.”

Bulletstorm released in February of 2011, and landed at number seven on the NPD charts, with Cowen and Compnay’s Doug Creutz stating it moved 279,000 units for the month.

Around the same time as the game’s debut, a controversial Fox News segment singled out Bulletstorm among others as being perpetrators of violence and even rape.

Capps said the segment “probably helped sell more units,” than keep folks from buying as was Fox’s intent.

At GDC Europe next month, Capps will deliver a keynote titled:”Size Doesn’t Matter: How Epic Brings AAA Attitude to Every Game, from Gears of War 3 to Infinity Blade.”

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2011/07/23/epic-bulletstorm-didnt-make-money-for-the-firm-but-it-has-no-regrets/feed/18Epic president Mike Capps to give GDC Europe keynotehttp://www.vg247.com/2011/07/19/epic-president-mike-capps-to-give-gdc-europe-keynote/
http://www.vg247.com/2011/07/19/epic-president-mike-capps-to-give-gdc-europe-keynote/#respondTue, 19 Jul 2011 15:45:18 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=187381GDC Europe organisers have announced this afternoon that Epic president Mike Capps is to give the main keynote at the event next month.

Capps, in a speech entitled “Size Doesn’t Matter: How Epic Brings AAA Attitude to Every Game, from Gears of War 3 to Infinity Blade” will give insight into “how Epic has delivered fun, successful triple-A experiences of all kinds: console blockbusters, mobile games, experimental Internet shareware, and legendary PC shooters.”

“Epic’s name is one of the few that resonates just as much with the game makers as it does the game players – having brought to market arguably the most successful game engine of all time, alongside major game franchises such as Gears of War. Dr. Mike Capps is a true industry stalwart, leading Epic Games to AAA hits time and time again,” said GDCE director Frank Sliwka.

“GDC Europe attendees will take away many valuable lessons from Dr. Capps and leave with new insights on how best to maximize resources.”

GDC Europe happens from August 15-17 at the Koelnmesse in Cologne alongside gamescom.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2011/07/19/epic-president-mike-capps-to-give-gdc-europe-keynote/feed/0Capps: Dollar apps are “killing” traditional game pricinghttp://www.vg247.com/2011/04/20/capps-dollar-apps-are-killing-traditional-gaming/
http://www.vg247.com/2011/04/20/capps-dollar-apps-are-killing-traditional-gaming/#commentsWed, 20 Apr 2011 00:36:18 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=165558Epic Games president Mike Capps has said cheap apps make it much harder for the traditional industry in this “scary” transitional period.

“How do you sell someone a $60 game that’s really worth it? They’re used to 99¢.”

While he commented that it’s an “exciting time” for those finding success in non-traditional paths, Capps said things are cagier now than at any time in Epic’s history.

“We have not been this uncertain about what’s coming next in the games industry since Epic’s been around for 20 years,” he said.

“We’re at such an inflection point. Will there be physical distribution in 10 years or even five? Will anyone care about the next console generation? What’s going on in PC? Can you make money on PC if it’s not a connected game? What’s going on in mobile? Tons of really scary things.”

The veteran developer also said that it has become impossible to predict platform trends.

“It used to be, ‘Well, of course PlayStation 3 will be successful because PS2 was amazingly successful.’ But can you say for sure that you know everyone’s going to jump to the next generation?” he said.

“I sure hope so – I’m going to try to make some great tech that will make everyone want to. But it’s scary.”

Epic unveiled new Unreal Engine tech at GDC, with various representatives commenting that the demo was a benchmark for the next generation to aim for.

Capps’ comments mirror those made by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata at GDC this year, in which he accused bite-sized pricing of eroding gaming software value.

“For a game that’s over-the-top, they probably helped sell more units than they convinced people to pick at us,” the Epic Games president told Industry Gamers.

“What was most exciting about it for me [was the reaction from the media in the industry defending us]. Every journalist said this Fox report is junk… It’s wonderful to see a media that’s defending free speech.”

But Capps is concerned with more than sales of just one game.

“As for what it does for the industry as a whole I think it’s terrible. There are people who really respect Fox News’ opinions and look at that and are [convinced that video games are bad].”